Nonlinear coupled thermo-electromagnetic problems with the cell method

An application of the cell method to a coupled nonlinear problem is presented. The two coupled physical aspects consist of the magnetic quasistatic and thermal transient problems. Their investigation is concerned in a wide range of applications such as the analysis of devices for the induction heating treatment of conductive workpieces. Assuming a cylindrical geometry, that is usual in such devices, the numerical model exploits a two-dimensional axis-symmetrical formulation to perform the simultaneous analyses of the transient thermal and ac eddy currents problems. As a consequence of the large temperature rise, typical in these treatments, both coupled problems are considered nonlinear. The formulation is validated comparing the numerical results against those adopted with commercial codes based on the finite element method and against the experimental data measured on a test device, too